Adaptive hair clip

ABSTRACT

A hair clip includes an upper clip piece defined with a lip portion, an arched body portion, an upper pivot portion and an upper handle portion; a lower clip piece defined with a tip portion, a base portion, a lower pivot portion, and a lower handle portion; and teeth extending downwards to the base portion. A hair clip is switchable between an open configuration and a closed configuration by operating upper and lower handle portions to have upper and lower clip pieces pivot on upper and lower pivot portions. When the hair clip is in the open configuration, the lip portion is apart from the tip portion for receiving hair therefrom. When the hair clip is in the closed configuration, the lip portion overbites the tip portion so that the hair in the hair-accommodating space is sharply separated from adjacent hair which is excluded from the hair clip.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a nonprovisional application claiming benefit from a prior-filed provisional application bearing a Ser. No. 62/664,252 and filed Apr. 29, 2018, and another prior-filed provisional application bearing a Ser. No. 62/745,582 and filed Oct. 15, 2018, the entities of which are incorporated herein for reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a hair clip, and more particularly to an adaptive hair clip configured to exhibit high hair-retaining capability for either thick or thin hair.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A conventional hair clip consists of an upper piece and a lower piece, which are assembled with a pin and a coil spring for lever movement or an equivalent. By pressing back ends of the upper and lower pieces toward each other, the hair clip opens for accommodating hair, and a bundle of hair can be clamped by the upper and lower pieces and retained in a hair holding space defined by the upper and lower pieces when the pressing force is released. Such a hair clip, however, provides only a clamping force between the upper and lower pieces for retaining hair. Hair is likely to escape from the opening between the free ends of the upper and lower pieces, or the hair clip is likely to slide along hair flow and falls.

Another conventional hair clip as shown in FIG. 1 is so-called as a gator hair clip, which includes an upper piece 11 and a lower piece 12, functioning for providing a clamping force as described above, and in addition, a finger piece 13 for further securing the hair clip from falling off the head. The upper and lower pieces 11 and 12 are elongated and pivotally interconnected. The corresponding portions of the upper and lower pieces 11 and 12 at one side of the pivotal point are hair-clipping portions 101, and the corresponding portions of the upper and lower pieces 11 and 12 at the other side of the pivotal point are handle portions 102 to be operated for pivotally opening and closing the hair-clipping portions 101. Since the hair clip is formed by adding the finger piece 13 onto the conventional upper and lower pieces 11 and 12, which are basically linear or slightly curved, the hair-clamping space is still limited to the small space between the upper and lower pieces 11 and 12. Such hair clips are not suitable for thick hair.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, there is a need to design a hair clip, which has an improved hair-retaining capability for either thin or thick hair.

In an aspect of the present invention, a hair clip comprises an upper clip piece being a single piece defined with a lip portion, an arched body portion, an upper pivot portion and an upper handle portion; a lower clip piece defined with a tip portion, a base portion, a lower pivot portion coupled to the upper pivot portion, and a lower handle portion in cooperation with the upper handle portion, wherein a space created with the base portion and the arched body portion when the hair clip is in a rest state without hair inside is large enough to serve as a hair-accommodating space when the hair clip is in a working state with hair inside; and a plurality of teeth extending from the arched body portion of the upper clip piece toward the base portion of the lower clip piece, and being long enough to bridge the hair-accommodating space between the arched body portion and the base portion. The hair clip in the working state is switchable between an open configuration and a closed configuration by operating the upper handle portion and the lower handle portion to have the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece pivot on the upper pivot portion and the lower pivot portion. When the hair clip is in the open configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece is apart from the tip portion of the lower clip piece to open a mouth for receiving hair therefrom. When the hair clip is in the closed configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece overbites the tip portion of the lower clip piece so that the hair in the hair-accommodating space is sharply separated from adjacent hair which is excluded from the hair clip.

In another aspect of the present invention, a hair clip comprises an upper clip piece being a single piece defined with a lip portion, an arched body portion, an upper pivot portion and an upper handle portion; a lower clip piece defined with a tip portion, a base portion, a lower pivot portion coupled to the upper pivot portion, and a lower handle portion in cooperation with the upper handle portion, wherein a space created with the base portion and the arched body portion when the hair clip is in a rest state without hair inside is large enough to serve as a hair-accommodating space when the hair clip is in a working state with hair inside; a plurality of teeth extending from the arched body portion of the upper clip piece toward the base portion of the lower clip piece; and a deformation member disposed between the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece for adaptively changing an effective room of the hair-accommodating space. The hair clip in the working state is switchable between an open configuration and a closed configuration by operating the upper handle portion and the lower handle portion to have the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece pivot on the upper pivot portion and the lower pivot portion. When the hair clip is in the open configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece is apart from the tip portion of the lower clip piece to open a mouth for receiving hair therefrom. When the hair clip is in the closed configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece overbites the tip portion of the lower clip piece to close mouth so that the hair in the hair-accommodating space is sharply separated from adjacent hair which is excluded from the hair clip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above contents of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is schematic side view illustrating a gator hair clip according to prior art;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams illustrating two different states of a hair clip according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C are schematic diagrams illustrating examples of the upper clip piece according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating partial elements included in a hair clip according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 5A-5F are schematic diagrams illustrating hair clips including deformation members according to some embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hair clip according to a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams illustrating two different states of a hair clip according to still another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic diagrams illustrating examples of the lower clip piece according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, a hair clip according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an upper clip piece 21 and a lower clip piece 22, which are operated to open a mouth 20 (FIG. 2B) for receiving a hair portion and close the mouth 20 (FIG. 2A) for retaining the hair portion. The upper clip piece 21 is further defined with a lip portion 211, an arched body portion 212, a pivotal portion 213, and a handle portion 214. The lower clip piece 22 has a tip portion 221 sustaining against the lip portion 211 of the upper clip piece 21 when the mouth 20 of the hair clip is closed, a base portion 222 for supporting the hair portion, a pivotal portion 223 for pivotally coupling to the pivotal portion 213 of the upper clip piece 21, and a handle portion 224 to be operated cooperatively with the handle portion 214 of the upper clip piece 21 for opening or closing the mouth 20 of the hair clip. The base portion 222 of the lower clip piece 22 is a slightly curved and elongated piece having a curvature smaller than the arched body portion 212, and preferably, but not necessarily, conforming to a common head's curvature. Since the arched body portion 212 of the upper clip piece 21 has a greater curvature than the base portion 222 of the lower clip piece 22, a space created with the base portion and the arched body portion when the hair clip is in a rest state without hair inside is large enough to serve as a hair-accommodating space 200 when the hair clip is in a working state with hair inside. An effective room of the hair-accommodating space 200 can be defined with the coupling point of the lip portion 211 and the tip portion 221, the arched body portion 212, the base portion 222, and the coupling point of the pivotal portions 213 and 223. Due to the arched feature of the arched body portion 212, the hair-accommodating space 200 is enlarged compared to the prior art so as to be suitable for thick hair. Varying with the amount of the hair portion received and retained in the hair-accommodating space 200, the tip portion 221 would sustain against a variable position of the lip portion 211. Therefore, it is preferable, but not necessarily, that the lip portion 211 extends a little more advanced than the tip portion 221 to assure of the closure of the mouth 20.

In this embodiment, the body portion 212 of the upper clip piece 21 includes at least two rows of teeth 2021 protruding downwards from a hair-pressing plate 2020 of the body portion 212. The two rows of teeth 2021 are disposed at opposite sides of the hair-pressing plate 2020, and if necessary in practice, additional row or rows of teeth (not shown) may be arranged between the two rows of teeth 2021. The teeth 2021 are preferably, but not necessarily, extend down to a level of the base portion 222 or lower in order to further assure of the closure of the hair-accommodating space 200. Furthermore, since the teeth 2021 penetrate through the hair portion deeply, the frictional force between each tooth 2021 and hair prevents the hair clip from slipping away from hair so as to be suitable for less thick hair. The length, allocation and density of the teeth 2021 may vary with dimensions of other parts of the hair clip and depend on practical applications. Examples of the configurations of the teeth 2021 will be described later.

The arched body portion in the above embodiment is shaped as a smooth curve. Alternatively, the arched body portion may be formed with one or more knuckle angles K evenly or unevenly distributed along the body portion, while the combined shape approximates an arch. FIGS. 3A-3C schematically illustrate some examples of hair clips with knuckle angles according to the present invention. In these figures, other elements such as teeth, if any, are omitted and not shown in order not to obstruct the view of the angles. The upper hair clip 311 as shown in FIG. 3A includes one knuckle angle K defined with linear and/or curved edges; the upper hair clip 312 as shown in FIG. 3B includes two knuckle angles K defined with linear and/or curved edges; and the upper hair clip 313 as shown in FIG. 3C includes more knuckle angles K defined with linear and/or curved edges. With the knuckle angle or angles K, specific functional effects can be provided for further improving hair-retaining capability and/or specific visual effects can be made for decorative purposes. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a deformation member 40 may be optionally installed and can be stably installed in a hair-accommodating space 400 for depressing and further securing the hair portion inside with the knuckle configuration serving as a stopper. A space created with the base portion and the arched body portion when the hair clip is in a rest state without hair inside is large enough to serve as the hair-accommodating space 400 when the hair clip is in a working state with hair inside. The deformation member 40 includes a first securing end 401 and a second securing end 402 to be coupled to the upper clip piece 41 and the lower clip piece 42 in any suitable detachable or non-detachable manner, e.g. adhesion, welding, hook, fasten, clamp, mount, etc. It is to be noted that the deformation member 40 may have a variety of configurations and allocations, depending on designing demands.

FIGS. 5A-5D schematically illustrate allocation examples of a deformation member. It is to be noted that in spite the deformation member 40 is used in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5D, any other suitable deformation member, which may be similar to or different from the configuration, e.g. number, shape and/or material, of the deformation member 40 can also be used. In these figures, other elements such as teeth, if any, are omitted and not shown in order not to obstruct the view of the parts.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 5A, the first securing end 401 is coupled to the upper clip piece 41, and the second securing end 402 is coupled to the lower clip piece 42. Therefore, an effective room of the hair-accommodating space 400 is defined with the coupling point of the lip portion 411 of the upper clip piece 41 and the tip portion 421 of the lower clip piece 42, the deformation member 40, the base portion 422 of the lower clip piece 42, and the coupling point of the pivotal portions 413 and 423. The effective room of the hair-accommodating space 400 in this embodiment is smaller than that of the hair-accommodating space 200 in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, so it is suitable for relatively thin hair. Nevertheless, due to the elastically deformable feature of the deformation member 40, the hair clip is also suitable for thick hair since the hair-accommodating space 400 is adaptively changeable with the deformation of the deformation member 40 pressed by hair.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 5B, both the first securing end 401 and the second securing end 402 are coupled to the lower clip piece 42. Therefore, an effective room of the hair-accommodating space 400 is defined with the coupling point of the lip portion 411 of the upper clip piece 41 and the tip portion 421 of the lower clip piece 42, the arched body portion 412, the deformation member 40, the coupling point of the pivotal portions 413 and 423, and optionally the base portion 422 if the second securing end 402 is disposed a little more ahead of the pivot portion 423. The effective room of the hair-accommodating space 400 in this embodiment is smaller than that of the hair-accommodating space 200 in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, so it is suitable for relatively thin hair. Nevertheless, due to the elastically deformable feature of the deformation member 40, the hair clip is also suitable for thick hair since the hair-accommodating space 400 is adaptively changeable with the deformation of the deformation member 40 pressed by hair.

The example illustrated in FIG. 5C is similar to that illustrated in FIG. 5B except that the second securing end 402 is coupled to the pivot portion 423 of the lower clip piece 42. Alternatively, the first securing end 401 may be coupled to the lip portion 411 of the upper clip piece 41 and/or the second securing end 402 may be coupled to the pivot portion 413 of the upper clip piece 41. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5D, the first securing end 401 is coupled to the lower clip piece 42, and the second securing end 402 is coupled to the upper clip piece 41.

FIG. 5E and FIG. 5F schematically illustrates other examples of deformation member 50. The deformation member 50 is made of an elastic ring such as a rubber band. In the example shown in FIG. 5E, the upper clip piece 41 has an indentation or notch 511 in a lip portion 411 of the upper clip piece 41, and the pivot portion 413 has also an indentation or notch 512. The rubber band 50 is looped around the indentations or notches 511 and 512. In the example shown in FIG. 5F, the upper clip piece 41 has a first securing mechanism 513, e.g. a hook 5131 in a slot 5132 as shown in the enlarged view, in the lip portion 411, and a second securing mechanism 521, e.g a hook 5211 on a post 5212 as shown in the enlarged view, is disposed on the handle portion 424 of the lower clip piece 42. An end of the rubber band 50 is secured at the first securing mechanism 513, and the other end penetrates through the pivot portions 413 and 423 to be secured at the second securing mechanism 521, thereby providing the desired elastically deforming feature. Alternatively, the second securing mechanism 521 may also be disposed at any suitable position on the base portion 422 of the lower clip piece 42. In other examples, the deformation member 50 may be provided instead of the deformation member 40 at similar positions to those exemplified in FIGS. 5A and 5D. It is to be noted that the deformation members exemplified in FIGS. 5A-5F may also be properly combined depending on practical requirements. Furthermore, it is to be noted that in spite the arched body portion 412 with a knuckle angle is used in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5F, an arched body portion with more knuckle angles or a smoothly arched body portion without a knuckle angle may also be used.

Hereinafter, examples of teeth will be described. In the examples shown in FIG. 2, the teeth 2021 are of a linear structure substantially extending downwards in parallel, and each of the teeth 2021 is substantially of the same or slightly reduced width from top to bottom. Alternatively, referring to FIG. 6, each of the teeth 6021 may have a tapered structure. That is, it is wider near the arched body portion 612 of the upper clip piece 61 while narrower near the base portion 622 of the lower clip piece 62. In addition, the arched body portion 612 of the upper clip piece 61 may be made larger than the arched body portion 212 of the upper clip piece 21. The hair clip in this embodiment is advantageous in adaptivity for both thick and thin hair since the relative large arched body portion and the relative wide tooth base result in a better stopping effect for thin hair. On the other hand, when the hair clip is applied to thick hair, hair would push the upper clip piece 61 and lower clip piece 62 to move away from each other so as to create a larger space 600. Meanwhile, the reduced width of the teeth 6021 means more space reserved for hair.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B schematically illustrate an open configuration and a closed configuration of a hair clip according to a further embodiment of the present invention, respectively, wherein a further example of teeth is shown. In this example, the teeth 7021 are configured as elongated and pointed rings. The pointed feature facilitates insertion of the teeth 7021 into hair. It is preferred that the rings are elastically deformable. The rings entering the hair are pressed by hair at the narrowed sides of the elongated rings, as indicated by arrows. Meanwhile, restoration of the elongated ring pressed by hair pushes hair to be securely retained in between the rings. which means the teeth 7021 are deformable to retain a resilient force when pressed by hair entering the hair-accommodating space 700, and the teeth 7021 can restore to the original configuration after hair is released from the hair clip. For example, the elastic deformability can be caused by using an elastically deformable material to form the teeth 7021. In another case that the teeth 7021 is integrally formed with the relatively rigid upper clip piece 71, the elastic deformable feature can be achieved by using a thin enough ring. The hair clip illustrated in FIG. 7A and 7B further includes a deformation member 70. The deformation member 70 may be implemented with any of the above-described examples of deformation members.

As shown in the embodiments described above, the lip portion of the upper clip piece may be made to extend forward and downward from the arched body portion, and has a down-curved free end. The down curving of the free end further facilitates enclosure of hair inside the hair-accommodating space.

Referring back to FIG. 2B, the base portion 222 of the lower clip piece 22 may be made of a single strip 2220. The single strip may optionally have an elongated gap or a recess in the middle. Alternatively, the base portion 222 of the lower clip piece 22 may be made of a plurality of separate strips arranged in parallel, as shown in FIG. 8A, or in waves, as shown in FIG. 8B. In these embodiments, there may be small bumps or mini-posts 2221 provided in the middle of the strip 2220 or in the middle recess of the strip 2220. Alternatively, the small bumps or mini-posts 2221 may be distributed randomly over the strip 2220 for increasing frictional forces. Furthermore, the teeth 2021 may extend down to at least a gap 2023 between two of the separate strips 2220, or lower.

All the designs as embodied above intend to make a well enclosed and adaptively adjusted accommodation space for hair. With the above-described designs, hair can be securely retained in the hair clip.

While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A hair clip, comprising: an upper clip piece being a single piece defined with a lip portion, an arched body portion, an upper pivot portion and an upper handle portion; a lower clip piece defined with a tip portion, a base portion, a lower pivot portion coupled to the upper pivot portion, and a lower handle portion in cooperation with the upper handle portion, wherein a space created with the base portion and the arched body portion when the hair clip is in a rest state without hair inside is large enough to serve as a hair-accommodating space when the hair clip is in a working state with hair inside; and a plurality of teeth extending from the arched body portion of the upper clip piece toward the base portion of the lower clip piece, and being long enough to bridge the hair-accommodating space between the arched body portion and the base portion; wherein the hair clip in the working state is switchable between an open configuration and a closed configuration by operating the upper handle portion and the lower handle portion to have the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece pivot on the upper pivot portion and the lower pivot portion; wherein when the hair clip is in the open configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece is apart from the tip portion of the lower clip piece to open a mouth for receiving hair therefrom; and wherein when the hair clip is in the closed configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece overbites the tip portion of the lower clip piece so that the hair in the hair-accommodating space is sharply separated from adjacent hair which is excluded from the hair clip.
 2. The hair clip according to claim 1, wherein the teeth are allocated into at least two rows of teeth extending down to two sides of the base portion, or the lower clip piece is made of a plurality of separate strips and the teeth extends down to at least a gap between two of the separate strips or lower.
 3. The hair clip according to claim 1, wherein the teeth are of a linear structure substantially extending downwards, and each of the teeth has one end connected to the arched body portion of the upper clip piece and another end being a free end.
 4. The hair clip according to claim 3, wherein each of the teeth is formed of substantially uniform width or each of the teeth is formed of decreasing width toward the free end thereof.
 5. The hair clip according to claim 1, wherein each of the teeth is of a ring structure formed together with the arched body portion of the upper clip piece.
 6. The hair clip according to claim 5, wherein the ring structure is elastically deformable when pressed by hair.
 7. The hair clip according to claim 1, further comprising a deformation member disposed between the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece for adaptively changing an effective room of the hair-accommodating space.
 8. The hair clip according to claim 7, wherein the deformation member has two ends thereof coupled to the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece, respectively.
 9. The hair clip according to claim 7, wherein two ends of the deformation member are coupled to the same upper clip piece or the same lower clip piece.
 10. The hair clip according to claim 7, wherein the deformation member is of an elastically deformable structure.
 11. A hair clip, comprising: an upper clip piece being a single piece defined with a lip portion, an arched body portion, an upper pivot portion and an upper handle portion; a lower clip piece defined with a tip portion, a base portion, a lower pivot portion coupled to the upper pivot portion, and a lower handle portion in cooperation with the upper handle portion, wherein a space created with the base portion and the arched body portion when the hair clip is in a rest state without hair inside is large enough to serve as a hair-accommodating space when the hair clip is in a working state with hair inside; a plurality of teeth extending from the arched body portion of the upper clip piece toward the base portion of the lower clip piece; and a deformation member disposed between the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece for adaptively changing an effective room of the hair-accommodating space; wherein the hair clip in the working state is switchable between an open configuration and a closed configuration by operating the upper handle portion and the lower handle portion to have the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece pivot on the upper pivot portion and the lower pivot portion; wherein when the hair clip is in the open configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece is apart from the tip portion of the lower clip piece to open a mouth for receiving hair therefrom; and wherein when the hair clip is in the closed configuration, the lip portion of the upper clip piece overbites the tip portion of the lower clip piece to close mouth so that the hair in the hair-accommodating space is sharply separated from adjacent hair which is excluded from the hair clip.
 12. The hair clip according to claim 11, wherein the arch body portion includes at least one knuckle angle defined with linear and/or curved edges.
 13. The hair clip according to claim 11, wherein the deformation member is of an elastically deformable structure.
 14. The hair clip according to claim 13, wherein the deformation member has two ends thereof coupled to the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece, respectively.
 15. The hair clip according to claim 13, wherein the deformation member has two ends thereof coupled to the same one of the upper clip piece and the lower clip piece.
 16. The hair clip according to claim 13, wherein the deformation member has one end coupled to the upper or lower pivot portion and another end coupled to the lip portion of the upper clip piece or the tip portion of the lower clip piece.
 17. The hair clip according to claim 11, wherein the upper clip piece has a first indentation or notch in the lip portion of the upper clip piece, and the upper or lower pivot portion has a second indentation or notch, and the deformation band includes at least one rubber band looped around the first and second indentations or notches.
 18. The hair clip according to claim 11, wherein the upper clip piece has a first securing mechanism at the lip portion, the lower clip piece has a second securing mechanism at the lower handle portion, and the deformation band includes at least one rubber band having one end secured at the first securing mechanism and the other end penetrating through the upper and lower pivot portions to be secured at the second securing mechanism.
 19. The hair clip according to claim 18, wherein the first securing mechanism is a hook in a slot, and the second securing mechanism is a hook on a post.
 20. The hair clip according to claim 11, wherein the teeth are allocated into at least two rows of teeth extending down to two sides of the base portion, or the lower clip piece is made of a plurality of separate strips and the teeth extends down to at least a gap between two of the separate strips or lower. 